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She said: “We have become a victim of our own success, in some respects. Our residents want to send their children to city schools, and we even have children from the county coming to our schools.

“I have been assured there are places for all children who have requested places in our schools. We do have places. We have no control over admissions at academies, but we have put pressure on them to take more pupils, and most of them have listened to us.

Councillor Janine Bridges

“But one of the problems we’ve seen is that some parents have only put one preference on their forms. If that first choice is full, they haven’t got a second choice.”

Committee members asked if parents were fully aware they should put a second choice school on their forms. Some councillors suggested that parents might only put a first preference in the mistaken belief it would increase their chances of getting a place in that school.

But Dr Bridges, who has worked as a teacher, said parents were told how the system worked.

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Jen Lomas, assistant director for learning services, added: “The appeal process is there. It’s not ideal to have to go through it, but it does allow us to direct schools to take more children.

“But if parents only put one preference on the original forms, that does put us in a difficult position.

“I can’t offer any certainty at the moment, while the appeals process is still going on. But I would stress to people to put appeals in.”

Weston Coyney councillor Ross Irving said many parents in his ward had been caught up in the admissions problems.

He said: “Some parents are facing their children having a round trip of roughly 12 miles or more. In Weston Coyney and elsewhere in the south of the city, children are being expected to go to schools on the other side of Hanley.

“Quite frankly, we don’t seem to have an admissions policy. School that have academy status have not made additional places available.

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“I support the idea of parental choice. But a lot of people don’t really think about local authority boundaries. Families living on Weston Road would see Moorside as their first choice - there’s a bus service that goes straight there, but it’s in Staffordshire. Some have been allocated places at Birches Head now, and so the children are expected to get a bus into the city centre.”

Hollybush and Longon West councillor Kath Banks said: “I’ve still got concerns. Some of the people I’ve spoken to in my ward have been told their children have got to go to schools 14 miles away. And if pupils are having to go to school 14 miles away, the council will have to pay for their transport.”

Council leader Ann James believes the current problems stem from the city high school’s converting to academies, meaning they were no longer under the control of the authority.

She said: “We fought hard to stop schools going over to academies. It’s just unfortunate that the Government forced academies on local authorities. It’s not just Stoke-on-Trent which has this problem – everybody everybody else has the same problem.”